


Unbound

by marshybeans



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, I don't know how dark yet, Kidnapping, Prisoner Wife, Slave Wife but not really, kind of Dark!Jon?, mafia, mob boss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:53:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23654179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshybeans/pseuds/marshybeans
Summary: Sansa Stark is taken off the streets to be sold as a Mafia Wife. Jon Snow who hates everything to do with the Choosing can't stand the thought of Joffery fucking Baratheon or Ramsey scummy Bolton having her so he breaks and for the first time Jon chooses and he chooses Sansa.
Relationships: Jon Snow & Sansa Stark, Jon Snow/Sansa Stark
Comments: 55
Kudos: 213





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, I honestly don't know how I feel about this but this just wouldn't leave me alone until I got it out so here we are. 
> 
> It's been a while.

Chapter One

Sansa took a sip of her Vanilla Latte, scolding her top lip as she did so. _Damn, why do I always do that?_ She thought to herself. She’d just been served the hot beverage and for some reason thought it would be cool enough to drink straight away. _Stupid._ She had just popped out for a quick ten minute wonder about during her work day, she was lucky enough that her office was relaxed enough that she could pop out quickly to return some goods she ordered online and treat herself to a nice, warm coffee without anyone really caring where she went.

  
She was just eyeing up some stocky, red heels that had caught her attention. She was debating whether they were worth the splurge, on the one hand, she had way too many shoes that never saw the light of day and she really didn’t need to add another to the trunk; on the other hand, she didn’t have a pair in that shade of red and it would match her summer dress she’d just made perfectly. Umming and awing until she finally turned away from the store front, having managed to talk herself out of buying the lovely, red shoes – tomorrow was another day, after all – she didn’t see the curly-haired man who was rushing past her. Not until she felt the hot, scalding coffee on her chest, soaking the blouse she had spent a whole twenty minutes annoyingly trying to iron the night before. She looked up and realised that unfortunately, she was wasn’t the only one going to be stinking of vanilla for the day. The man in question had a sudden wet patch splattered across his light blue t-shirt. _That is a lovely shade of blue, focus Sansa! You’ve soiled the poor bloke!_

  
“Fuck!” She exclaimed, her hand covering her mouth as she took his equally ruined shirt in. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going, I was distracted by the er…” She looked over her shoulder wistfully back at the red shoes she had chosen to leave behind and then turned back to focus on the task in hand. “I just…I’m so sorry, can I do anything? Can I get it…dry-cleaned or something?” She took in the t-shirt; it was just a t-shirt after all and she hardly thought it was worth a dry clean but she felt the need to be polite. The man raised his eyebrows as he dabbed at his shirt and then soon gave up once he realised that ultimately, that achieved nothing.

  
“Erm…no. It’s fine, I’ll just get a new one.” Sansa nodded; he really was something to look at. His hair looked unruly and like it had been shoved back into a man-bun. A man-bun which she had just been taking the piss out of with Jeyne last Saturday looked oh, so differently to how she had thought them last week. She took back every negative thing she had said about them because they looked sexy on this guy. He wasn’t overly tall, maybe just slightly taller than she was but she was wearing flats, it would be a whole different story if she were wearing heels. _Maybe those red heels, in particular?_

  
“Okay, well maybe I should give you some money? For the shirt. Since I ruined it.” She turned to start digging into her handbag to find her purse, knowing full well she didn’t actually have any cash buried in there but still the cash point was only around the corner.

  
“No, it’s fine.” He said. He was short but firm and somehow Sansa knew not to argue with him, she merely gave him a small smile, a bop of the head and then removed her hands from her bag. She shrugged.

  
“Okay, well I really am sorry.” She gestured to her now half-empty coffee cup. _Hmm, still got some left. Silver linings._ He gave her a small smile, looked over his shoulder and then gestured to the way he was going.

“Well I better…be off then.” It was almost said as a question and for a split-second Sansa wanted to stop him. But no. There was no way, she wasn’t a first move kind of girl anyway.

  
There was a slight pause and awkward moment as they both stood, looking at one another. Sansa forced herself to move, gave him a slight wave over her shoulder with what she thought was another slight grimace just to get it across again that she was indeed sorry for spilling coffee on him in case the countless previous apologies hadn’t quite done the trick.

  
She walked back into the office in a daze. _Christ, he was fit._

* * *

  
Sansa was just waving goodbye to her work colleagues as she exited the parking lot on foot, she still hadn’t gotten around to purchasing a car and anyway public transport was a hell of a lot cheaper for her right now. She hadn’t stopped thinking about _Man-Bun_ for the duration of the day, even proclaiming to the girls in the office about how she had ran – quite literally – in to some hot guy and proceeded to describe him in all his glory.

  
It was starting to get darker now as they headed into October, she liked it when it was like this compared to the pitch black by 5pm December nights. Her bus stop was a ten-minute walk away from work and since it was a regular bus, she figured a detour wouldn’t hurt, say passed a certain store that had gorgeous red heels in the window? She giggled to herself and shook her head. She was glutton for all things fashion that was for sure. She took a cut through down one of the back alleys which then cut across Parish Field opposite the store. It was the same route she had taken from the coffee shop that morning and she didn’t think anything of it.

  
Looking back now, she wasn’t sure at what point that the guy who took her had been following her. Had it been since she had left the office or was it when she made the split decision to treat herself and take the back alley? She would curse herself if it wasn’t for that fact that she walked down that damn alley every single day, normally populated with at least someone for her to feel safe and fine. She was born and bred in this town, she knew it like it was the back of her hand and had never once felt unsafe.

  
So, when she felt a sudden strong hand clasp her mouth and the other wrap around her upper torso, it had taken her a split second to even register what the hell was going on and that had been a split second too long.

* * *

  
Jon took a long sip of his whisky before turning to look at Theon with a glare. Theon stared back, unaffected by his hard gaze. Sam cleared his throat and glanced at Jon with a pointed look, whether he liked it or not Theon had a point and he knew Jon knew it. Jon sighed.

  
“Jon, I’m not telling you this to be a dick alright? The others already think you’re soft as fuck and the fact that you refuse to engage in all their asinine rituals continues to prove that you’re not one of them.”

  
“I’m not one of them.” Jon forced out, through gritted teeth. Theon rolled his eyes.

"I know that, Sam knows that. The whole fucking world can know that for all I care. You know who doesn’t need to know that? The fucking clan Jon, for fucks sakes. People have been killed for less and there are too many people watching, suspecting you.”

  
“Suspecting me?” He queried but he knew what Theon was getting at. That was the way it worked around here, if you didn’t play by the rules, if you didn’t participate; it couldn’t possibly be because you thought it was all a load of bollocks that you never actually wanted to be a part of – it was because of one reason only and that reason was that you had a wandering eye. A traitor. “Alright, what are you suggesting? Shall I just go line up some _randoms_ and put a few bullets in their heads? Will that do it?”

  
The short, balding man strapped to the steel table across the room whimpered at the word bullets. Jon glanced at him then gave him a sharp kick, the man howled in pain. That would teach him to eavesdrop.

  
“Jon, we’re on your side here. None of us want to be a part of this, any more then you do alright?” Sam started, “but we do what we do, to survive – just like you.”

  
Samwell Tarly needed to have the gall to survive more than any of them, he was different to Jon or Theon who had been born into this with no choice in the matter but Sam; Sam had been kidnapped as a child. He had been used as a pawn against his father, some top dollar mogul with a multi-million empire that he refused to give up to anyone or for anything. Robert Baratheon had ordered Sam to be taken from his home at the ripe old age of five and he had been stored away until Sam’s father agreed to cough up. But Sam’s father never had and Sam lost his uses, he should be thankful that no one had ever put a bullet between his eyes as many had argued for it but for some reason they had still yet to figure out, he took pity on Sam and allowed him to live. This meant that Sam didn’t quite get the same luxuries as either Theon or Jon did and it did mean that men threatened him on a daily basis but he still had his life, so he guessed that was something.

  
“Look, maybe just start participating in some of the other shit yeah? The less important shit, organise a bank robbery or take a wife at the next Choosing, I don’t know.” Theon shrugged. “Something to get a least a couple pairs of eyes of ya.” He shoved a cigarette between his lips as he searched his pockets for a lighter.

“I’m not forcing some innocent girl they took of the street to be my wife. I won’t do it.” Theon rolled his eyes; he didn’t know why Jon pretended to himself he was such a saint sometimes. The man had killed and tortured plenty – literally, had a bloke tied up who was raw and beaten right this second - but one girl pretending to be his wife just so people would stop questioning his loyalty? Apparently, that was just too much.

  
“Whatever then, just fucking do something. Joffrey says one more thing under his fucking breath and I’m gonna have to pummel him again and then get a pummelling myself from daddy-o because I hurt his baby boy.” Jon let out a low chuckle, Theon had really done a number on Joffrey the last time he set hands on him. Theon and Joffrey had been going head to head since they were kids and no one really battered an eyelid anymore. One because no one really gave a fuck about Joffrey Baratheon, the only reason the little shit was still breathing was because he was the Boss Man’s little cretin of a son and Two, because this was the fucking mafia, you either defended yourself and put up a fight or you got killed that was the way it was.

  
Giving a slight nod, Jon mumbled about doing something and then headed over to the man across the room. He took a long sip of his whiskey and then shot the man twice. One in the throat, just for fun and then after a few moments; one in the head to finish him off.

* * *

  
Sansa clutched her head; it was pounding and her eyes physically ached to open. She rolled onto one side, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She heard some shuffling in the corner behind her and she stilled. She wasn’t alone. She slowly turned over to see where the movement came from, she couldn’t see much just an outline of someone at least.  
“You’re awake.” The voice was low and soft with a slight tilt at the end, sounding almost hopeful.

  
“Who are you?” Sansa whispered, she crawled to sit up and registered her surroundings. She had been sleeping on a concrete floor using no wonder her back was in pain. There was a slither of light coming from the far side, she assumed a gap between the floor and perhaps a door. She clutched her head as a shooting pain went through her.

  
“It’s the drug they used to knock you out with. It will ware off soon.” She said this with matter of fact and Sansa stared back at what she thought was the young girl. “My name’s Gilly. They took me too.” Took me? Sansa thought back to what she was last doing. The alley, the hands wrapped around her, a blindfold, a car door shutting and then- nothing, haze. _Oh fuck._

  
She cleared her throat and began to breath heavier. _They took me too. Fuck._ She’d been kidnapped, literal kidnapped. _What the fuck?_ Shit like this didn’t happen in Winterfell? Winterfell with a population of about 5,000 people. Their last big headlines was that some teenager had attempted to rob a petrol station, a couple years back and that been it.

  
“What do you mean? Do you know where we are?”

  
“I know just as much as you do. I was just popping out to get some milk and bread before the shop shut and then,” She paused, a low whimper came from the back of her throat. “What do you think will happen to us? …do you think they want to kill us?”

  
“I don’t…I don’t know who they are?” Sansa stuttered, she hadn’t seen anyone, they had come up from behind her. How was she meant to get out of this? This wasn’t supposed to happen, not to her. She had a life, she had plans, she had family and friends and work colleagues. People would notice if she didn’t turn up somewhere, she thought this sort of thing only happened to those that were easily missed.

  
“I saw one. It was dark but h-he came up to talk to me, I thought…I thought he was being nice to me. He’d just asked if the shop had been closing, he had a newborn who had just run out of milk and he was desperate…I had just turned to look at the store, I was just going to tell him it was still open when, when he hit my head with something. I don’t remember anything after that.” Gilly took a deep breath and shivered. The poor girl had no idea how long she’d even been there, with that thought she turned to Sansa. “What day is it?” Sansa paused, “I mean, what day was it you were taken?” At least that way she could figure it out.

  
“October 7th.” Sansa whispered. Gilly nodded though Sansa couldn’t see her. So, she had been there two days already. She had been asleep when Sansa had been brought in, someone had come in about twenty minutes before that and had injected her with something. Now she knew it was to stop her from trying to make a run for it.

  
The two girls sat in silence for a moment before they heard a key being inserted in the door, the door swung open and Gilly flinched from the light that was let in after two days in the dark. Sansa squinted but kept her eyes on the intruder. She was an older woman, late 70s perhaps. She was cloaked in a blue shawl and had a head piece on. The older woman looked over both her and Gilly each and then nodded.

  
“You will both do.” Was all she said before four men, all built up and muscled entered the room. Two took hold of Gilly as the other two took hold of Sansa and led them both out of the room. Sansa took in her surroundings; she couldn’t make out exactly where she was but just that it seemed as though it was some kind of abandoned bunker. The paint was that basic magnolia her old high school had and it was peeling and chipped. She looked at Gilly and reached out to take her hand, Gilly clutched it and tightened her grip as they allowed themselves to be led by the men.

  
The scenery changed completely after that, gone were the chipped walls and here was the luxury. Sansa could tell just by looking at the wallpaper that it was expensive and most likely soft to the touch. It looked as though they had entered some kind of beauty salon, there were mirrors lining one side of the walls accompanied by an arrangement of hair equipment and make up products. The other side lined up a couple of bath tubs that Sansa could see were filled already and guessing by the aroma that was filling the room, she guessed there was some kind of oil in there too. _What the fuck?_ Her brain screamed for what felt like the millionth time that day already.

  
“Get them washed and cleaned up before presentation.” Sansa whipped her head to look at the elder woman who was speaking to three younger girls by the mirrors. They couldn’t have been older than fourteen, the girls merely nodded and bowed their heads. The elder woman gave them another onceover before looking to the men who had brought them in.

  
“Well, at least you didn’t mark their faces like the last two. That’s something.” She simpered and then stalked off, the men left the way they came and Sansa and Gilly looked at one another, bewildered before turning to look at the young girls.

  
One of the girls walked across to them, she stared at the ground; refusing to look at them as she gestured to the bath tub.

  
“Please get unchanged and get into the tub.” She whispered. Sansa stared at her as the young girl stared at the ground. “We won’t look.” She assured them before heading back to the other two girls and simultaneously they turned around from them. Gilly’s eyes widened as she turned to stare at Sansa. She didn’t need to say anything, Sansa read it, clear as day on her face.

  
Sansa paused for a moment before she slowly unbuttoned her dress, her shoes were already gone and she pulled the hair bobble from her head. She walked across to the bath tub, still in her underwear. She already thought she was accepting this rather readily, more so then what she probably should. They could at least let her keep some of her dignity.

  
“All of it.” The girl who had spoken to her earlier called out. She wasn’t even looking at them and Sansa hadn’t taken her eyes of them the whole time, how did they even know? Sansa glanced back at Gilly who was still clothed. She took a deep breath and slipped of her bra and underwear and slipped into the tub. It was nice, so warm and soothing. Gilly soon followed and Sansa didn’t look at her until she was in the tub next to her.

  
Sansa grimaced as her back relaxed in the water. She was utterly bewildered by this place, she had gone from a dark, damp room to a beauty salon that she wouldn’t have even bothered to look at the price list in her normal world. _Her normal world._ She hadn’t even tried to run yet, what was wrong with her? But between the ten-minute conversation with Gilly before they had been brought here, she couldn’t think of a time when she could have. Maybe she could have put up more of a fight, she thought. And where would that have got her? She wasn’t Arya. God, if this was Arya she would have beaten them all to a pulp and figured a way out for both her and Gilly already, not lying here in an oil scented bloody bath. But this was Sansa, she was the soft one, the gentle one, the logical one – she wasn’t the one who fought her way out of anything.

  
Once they were washed and dried, Sansa and Gilly were led over towards the mirrors where they had their hairs dried, trimmed and styled. Next was a simple manicure and pedicure followed by simple make up application. It was the most pampering session that Sansa had never wanted. She was bewildered by the whole situation. Kidnapped but pampered?

  
Sansa and Gilly couldn’t take their eyes of each other as they moved through step by step. After the pampering session was done, they were then led to an adult-sized closet where Sansa was given a plain blue tea dress to wear that flattered her curves. She was also given a pair of black platform heels to wear although Gilly who was wearing a similar style dress but in green seemed to be struggling to walk in her shoes.

  
Once they were done and completely made over and Sansa had had a chance to think about what the hell kind of situation she had found herself in, she was led into yet another room. _This place is like a freaking maze._ This one was also spacious and was decorated with plush two-seaters, the three young girls bowed their heads and left them. It wasn’t long that Gilly and Sansa were left alone before they were joined by seven other girls, equally as made up as they were. Sansa said nothing but stared at them all. She noticed several of them were covered in bruises and two had marks on their faces.

  
“Okay, now I’m scared. Like, really scared. Are they dressing us up to send us to slaughter?” Sansa whipped her head round to Gilly who had leaned into her to whisper into her ear. Choosing to ignore the slaughter comment, Sansa looked at her.

  
“Now you’re scared? As opposed to waking up in a dark, empty room? That didn’t have you scared before?” Gill shrugged.

  
“Well obviously but that was when I knew it was a kidnapping, now-.” She gestured towards the other girls in the room. “Now, I have no idea what the fuck this is.”

* * *

  
Jon grumbled as he headed into the ballroom, this was where all the magic happened so to speak. Parties, grand balls, inductions if you were lucky and beheadings if you were unlucky. He spotted Theon on the far side of the room, one empty chair beside him which Jon hastily sat down in. He hated these gatherings. The Choosing ceremony was the worst, girls were lined up, all dolled up just for them and they quite literally took it in turns and chose one to be their wife if they wished it. Samwell was somewhere in the council room too; he wasn’t considered noble enough to select a wife. Jon hated that he was. He could do a lot of nasty shit – had done a lot of nasty shit – but there was something about selecting a wife that rubbed him up the wrong way, disgusted him.

  
He had attended seven Choosing’s so far since he had been elevated to the upper council, they happened sporadically and every time he had quite obviously, not selected a wife for himself. He had to attend these gatherings purely for appearances sakes. Theon technically wasn’t considered an upper councilman and wasn’t allowed to choose either. He was there purely as Jon’s second in command.

  
“Snow. What are you doing here? We all know you won’t take one.” Ramsey Bolton sneered at him; Jon merely grunted. Ramsey Bolton was the scum of the earth and was on his third wife already. The first one had died in an accident whilst the other one had suddenly disappeared. Jon and Ramsey had come to blows more than once over the years. Jon never understood why Robert kept him around, Bolton was a snake through and through.

  
“Not a concern of yours, Bolton. Don’t worry yourself about what I’m doing, you should be paying more attention to those around you.” Jon added a small glance around the room for theatrics and sure enough, Ramsey blanched and was questioning everyone who came in his way. That sly fuck had pissed off many in this clan and he trusted no one. Rightly so.

  
“Remember what we talked about.” Theon murmured beneath his breath as he nudged Jon. Jon let out a hushed groan.

  
“No. Theon. End of.”

  
Olenna Tyrell swaggered into the room, forcing Theon to shut his mouth from saying what he wanted as the men in the room turned to look at her. Olenna was in charge of supplying the girls to them. She had pool of misfits go out and raid the streets for unsuspecting girls, plucked them when they least expected it, tidied them up and presented them to Jon and the like, wrapped in a nice little bow.

  
Jon eyed Olenna Tyrell like one eyes a viper ready to attack, she may look like an elderly, fragile woman – and she played up to it well – but Olenna Tyrell would gut you in your sleep and not lose a wink of sleep over it. She was mafia through and through.

  
“Gentleman, your gifts for the choosing. May you choose well.” She simpered and smiled as the double doors opened and in walked a line of girls dressed like dolls. They looked terrified and the deer in the headlights look wasn’t a turn on for Jon. He wanted out of this. He looked at the girls one by one, same as any other choosing. All young, all beautiful and slim. Perfect Mafia Wives. Or Prisoners.

  
He halted as he came across her. _Fuck, it was her._ The girl from the morning, the girl with the coffee. How the fuck was she here? Who had been watching her? And more importantly, had they been watching him? Had they seen her interact with him and thought this was some joke or…gift? Someone snivelling up to him, to be his second or third? It happened from time to time. Jon glanced around the room, watching his fellow brethren’s faces to see any expressions blatantly aimed at him. The likes of Joffrey wouldn’t be able to keep the sly smile from his juvenile fucking face. But no, nothing. A coincidence? Coincidences didn’t exist in the mafia.

  
She was fucking beautiful. Jon hadn’t stopped thinking about her since she poured that hot bloody coffee on him and fuck, had it burned but he had been blind-sided when he had looked at her. That long red hair down her back, he could envision wrapping his fingers through it as he fucked her, yanking on it harder and harder as he pumped into her from behind. It was the eyes that had really caught him, the stunning blue orbs had sucked him in that he missed what she had said to him to start off with.

  
No fucking way could she be here. Jon grunted as he glanced at her again and then did another look around the room, convinced someone was playing him. As he did so, it slowly dawned on him. No fucker here was choosing her. No way. It was his fault she was here; he knew it somehow. There was no way Joffrey fucking Baratheon or Ramsey scummy fucking Bolton were going to lay a finger on her.

  
And lucky for him, Jon out ranked them all which meant he picked first. Joffrey was already up, so sure that Jon wouldn’t participate. He hated the fact that Jon outranked him despite him being the Boss’s son but being the son of a Mob Boss only held some perks and bonuses, if you were shit at your job then quite simply – you didn’t get promoted.

Joffrey was already making a beeline for the red head. _Bastard._ Jon bolted out of his seat.

“Baratheon. Have you forgotten already?” Joffrey paused and turned to look at him, astounded. Jon took great pleasure in reminding him, in front of everyone where they both stood in the food chain. “I go first.” Joffrey scowled but said nothing. Jon ignored the mutterings behind them as he stormed up towards the girl who had taken him by surprise. He barely looked at her as he pointed at her. “That one.” He grunted and then stalked from the room.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was really overwhelmed with the response last chapter, so glad you liked it. Hope you like this one too! :) 
> 
> Fun fact: this story was inspired by a dream so if anything is really wacky *ahem, living situation* that's why. It was in the dream and I'm just going with it. 
> 
> Also, shoutout to GPShip23 who penned Olenna Tyrell as Granny Mafia because that was brilliant and I hope you don't mind me using it!

Chapter Two

Sansa barely got a good look at the young man who had merely grunted at her before storming away. _It couldn’t be? No._ No way, she was just seeing things. She was delirious, she had had who knows how many drugs pumped into her in the last 24, 48 hours? He had been the last thing she had thought about before all this, the last thing that had made an impact on her day. She was just seeing what she wanted to see.

She glanced over at Gilly; Gilly wasn’t watching her though she was paying attention to a short, blonde man who was making his way across to the line of girls. She felt a sharp tug on her hair, she grimaced and felt herself being yanked away and shoved towards the wall.

“Imbecile.” The older lady who had brought them in hushed at her. Sansa flinched and she felt a searing pain shoot through her arm where she was being gripped tightly. _How the fuck was she supposed to know what to do?_ She thought angrily. The old woman clicked her fingers and Sansa felt another tug as something was replaced around her neck. She couldn’t read what it said upside down but it looked like a mixture of numbers and letters. She felt like she was at a cattle market and felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She avoided the woman’s gaze and instead looked back over to the line of women, the blonde man was walking slowly past them, sneering at them. Sansa shivered, there was something slimy and almost…inhuman about him. She hated looking at him. She chose to look around the room instead, doing so as subtly as possible, barely lifting her eyes from the floor if she could help it. She caught the gaze of a dark-haired man who was looking at her softly. He was seated in a sea of other men – _were there no other women here? Other than the captives and Granny Mafia?_ – he was larger than the others and gave her a small tug of a smile. Sansa hurriedly looked away; she didn’t need to be gaining attention from anybody else. One was bad enough.

“This one.” The blonde had made his choice, he looked along the line in disgust and grunted. Flicked his hand and headed back to his seat, sneering.

“Excellent choice, Joffrey.” The old lady beamed and pulled someone away – _Gilly_ – Sansa felt her stomach flutter. She didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing to be chosen? What happened to those that didn’t? But then Sansa had been chosen too, maybe they could still stick together. Gilly lined up straight next to Sansa, so close that Sansa could see the small tears leaking out of her eyes and streaming down her face. Sansa took hold of Gilly’s hand and clutched it tightly.

The Choosing seemed to go on forever after that, man after man took their time imitating the blonde one, walking up and down before selecting someone. Sansa kept her head down as the elder lady took centre.

“Gentleman, congratulations on your choices and for those that didn’t get the chance – don’t worry, I’ll be back soon with more offerings.” Sansa couldn’t see her as the woman had her back towards her but it sounded like she was smiling. _Sick Bitch._ The woman turned around to face her, smile dropping from her face almost instantaneous. She headed over to the far side and tugged a small bell, the small chime rang through the air.

A few moment later, a gabble of young girls – the same ones from the salon and some others, Sansa presumed ones that had attended the others – entered the room.

“These girls have been selected, the tags around their necks will tell you where to deposit them.”

Sansa took one last look at the crowd of men sitting at the back of the room, the men who had made their _selections._ Ugh, the mere thought of it made her want to be sick. Only one was watching her, a curious look on his face. Sansa glanced away and watched the others. They were chatting away as if nothing had happened. As if they hadn’t just changed her life completely in a matter of hours.

* * *

Theon made his way out of the ballroom; he didn’t need to look to know that Sam had joined him. The pair waited until they were safely out of listening range. The last thing they needed was Joffrey or Bolton listening in.

“Well, that was interesting.” Sam said quietly, no one was around them but it didn’t hurt to be diligent about it. Theon nodded and watched as the others were dispersing also.

“Hmm, can’t say I’m not surprised. I wonder what changed his mind?”

“She did. Obviously.” Theon looked to Sam and arched his eyebrow, Sam shrugged. “Unless Jon was doing a complete 180 right before the ceremony anyway, he had no intention of Choosing today. Not until he saw her anyway. I watched him; he went completely rigid the moment he laid eyes on her.” Theon sighed.

“Yeah, I know your right. Any idea who she is?” Sam shook his head. Theon glanced around; he couldn’t see Jon but that wasn’t surprising considering Jon’s exit. “Alright, so where is he at? Back at the apartment?” Sam shook his head again.

“No. That’s where they’ll be taking her and he’ll want to avoid her for as long as possible.” Despite the fact that Jon had in fact chose, both Sam and Theon had known Jon long enough to know he wasn’t overly thrilled about what had happened in the ballroom.

“Bar it is then.” They both made their way over to the nearest bar and found Jon very quickly. He was perched at the bar, gulping whiskey (always his chosen drink) and ignoring Tormund who was excitedly telling him about something. Jon couldn’t look less interested if he tried.

Theon and Sam quietly sat down on the empty stools on either side of Jon. Sam nodded a hello to Tormund who promptly pulled Sam into whatever it was he had been discussing with Jon; albeit one-sidedly.

“Don’t.” Jon grunted; Theon frowned.

“I didn’t say anything.” Jon looked at him.

“You and I both know you don’t need too.” Theon shrugged; it was true. Jon knew exactly what he was thinking. Jon sighed and did a small glance over his shoulder, a quick look at the room. The bar was mostly empty. “I’d seen her before.” Theon let out a short, low chuckle.

“Yeah, I figured that.” That comment earned him a small glare. Theon cleared his throat and gestured for Jon to continue.

“She spilt coffee on me yesterday. Someone’s fucking with me. I know it.” He growled.

“Joffrey?” Jon shook his head. “Bolton, then?”

“No, I watched them. Neither of them gave anything away. We both know Joffrey wouldn’t be able to pass up the chance if it was him and Bolton’s too fucking thick to try and hide it. I just can’t figure out who.”

“Maybe it was no one?” Jon eyed him in disbelief and Theon rolled his eyes. “Alright, I know but its not out of the ordinary. We were both in Winterfell yesterday along with Sandor and Gendry too. Sandor is so far up Olenna’s arse, it wouldn’t surprise me if she had her boy scouts there anyway.” Theon shrugged and Jon paused in thought, could be possible but he wasn’t letting his guard down until he knew for sure. They were silent for a few more moments before he felt a hard thud on his back as Tormund said goodbye and left the three of them to it. For the first time since they entered, Jon made eye contact with Sam. Sam was giving him some bullshit puppy dog face, Jon had to stop himself from snarling at his friend.

“Can’t avoid her forever, Jon. What’s done is done.” Jon sighed. He couldn’t avoid the girl forever but he could at least have a few more drinks before returning home.

* * *

Sansa had never been so baffled by anything. Once the Choosing was over, they had walked the perimeter of the building slowly as they stopped by door after door, dropping off girl by girl. It was almost as if she was trapped inside a huge apartment complex of some sort however, she had done nothing but whip her head around as they walked that she was convinced she was five seconds away from getting whiplash. She had also seen several stores and bars. Where the hell was she? It was like she was stuck in a weird alternative universe where the only thing that existed was Mafia. She had seen others walking around freely, men and women and had tried to make contact with them, tried to figure out whether they were normal pedestrians or fellow captives.

She had barely had a chance to say goodbye to Gilly as they dropped her off. Two girls earlier had been bruised and yanked away from each other as one had tried to hug the other. Sansa presumed they were like her and Gilly, hadn’t really known each other but somehow had needed to cling to one another. Gilly and Sansa hadn’t bothered to try to hug one another, everything was said in a look. Sansa gave Gilly a small smile before she entered her new home.

Sansa had been the second to last woman to be dropped off, she stood outside a plain, grey door which had the number 23X in brass shapes on it. She looked at her other surroundings but there nothing of note, no other doors leading to other apartments just a store front across the way. Although, as Sansa squinted, she realised it wasn’t a store, it was some kind of garden from what she could tell from the high, clear windows anyhow. She was considering running – exploring – when the door in front of her suddenly opened.

“Oh. My goodness.” There was a pause. “There’s no use in running, dear if that’s what you’re thinking. Others have tried, there’s nowhere to go.” Sansa turned to find a woman with dark brown hair with a smattering of grey running through it, behind the door. She looked to be in her sixties and she gave Sansa a small smile with a glint in her eye. Sansa didn’t know why exactly but the smile made her feel better, well slightly better. The lady stepped to the side and gestured for Sansa to enter. “Well, come on in. We can’t get you settled in from out there, now can we?” She gave a low chuckle and Sansa could hear the soft Scottish lilt to her words. She slowly entered the apartment, moving close enough to the wall so that she wouldn’t touch her.

She followed the woman down the hall, the walls were bare and for a moment Sansa glanced back at the door. She hadn’t put a chain on it or even locked it, for a heartbeat Sansa thought about running but then what? If the old lady was right, there was nowhere to go, Sansa had already come to that conclusion during her mini tour of this Phantom Complex. She came to a halt in what she assumed would be the sitting room, it was dotted around with a couple of sofas’, an armchair, a coffee table and a large television. That was it though, Sansa again took in the fact that there was nothing on the walls, no photos – not even a bookcase. Who lived here? Or did no one live here up until now?

“Now, I don’t know when the Boss will be back but I can make you something to eat or show you to your room?” Sansa glanced back at her, mouth agape. Her head hurt so much from all the confusion.

“My room?” The woman gave out a light laugh.

“Oh, I am sorry dear. I’m new to this. Well, not being a housekeeper, oh no I’ve been looking after the master since he was a wee babe himself but he’s never-, “she paused, catching herself. “Well, I’m used to looking after a man not a young woman, shall we just say. My name is Miss Hue, I take care of the home – your home now, I suppose – I am responsible for the well being of the home, the cooking and anything else you may need me to do. Please don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“Can you help me leave?” Sansa blurted out without a thought and inwardly cringed. The woman was the man’s housekeeper for Christ’s sakes, of course she wasn’t going to help her escape. The woman looked sombre for a moment.

“Oh, if I knew how to do that dear, my mother would still be here along with my brother. My mother was just like you, all those years ago. She passed away and I became a housekeeper for the Snow’s. It was that or be killed so I did it and now, well now I have come to know and love Mr Snow like he was my own son. I wouldn’t leave him even though he would let me.”

“He would let you?”

“Oh yes and he’s offered it too, several times. A nice house on the sea, just mine but this is all I know now.” Sansa felt a flutter in her stomach. Could this Mr Snow be a nice guy? Would he help her escape? “Well, I’ve done enough nattering for now. Let me show you to your room.” And she turned out of the room, Sansa quickly followed her down the hall. She followed Miss Hue into what she supposed was her room.

It was pretty empty, save for a large bed, a dresser and a tall mirror standing in the corner. Miss Hue headed over to the far side of the room and opened a secondary door. It was an en suite and Sansa silently thanked God for that fact that she had a private bathroom, something that hadn’t even crossed her mind a few moments ago filled her with so much relief. She caught Miss Hue smiling at her, pity edged on her face.

“It’s pretty bare for now but I’m sure the Master will let you decorate it however you see fit. He most likely wouldn’t care if you decorated the whole house, I’d imagine.” She let out a light laugh again and Sansa scrunched her eyebrows.

“Master? I’m confused, you’ve called him Master, Mr Snow and…the Boss?” She wondered, that was three different nicknames for him, Miss Hue looked a little flustered, grinned and shrugged her shoulders but didn’t offer her any explanation.

“Now, I’ll run down to get you some clothes. Just the basics for now and then you can pick out some that you like but first I’ll let you get settled in and get you a snack.” Miss Hue smiled and hastily left, Sansa plonked herself on the bed and was utterly bewildered.

She had barely moved – considering she actually had nothing to settle in with – when Miss Hue gave a slight knock to the door before re-entering with a plate of food. Sansa hadn’t even realised how utterly ravenous she was until she saw the food.

“Just some leftover quiche and a baked potato to keep you going for now. I’d just finished up with a lovely batch of fresh lemon tarts when I heard the news so I’ve popped a couple of those on the plate for you too.” Sansa nodded her thanks before delving in the meal and groaned, the food was like heaven. Miss Hue grinned and headed over to the dresser. “I realised I failed to tell you where these were kept.” She was holding up a towel, she popped it on top of the dresser and left Sansa to it.

Sansa took a bite out of the lemon tart – _oh fuck me, that is heaven on a plate_ – she definitely needed the recipe for that so she could make it once she got home. The lemon tart turned to ash in her mouth at the sharp reminder. This was supposed to be her home now, she wondered what her family were doing. Had they noticed she was gone yet? Had they alerted the authorities? She wasn’t quite sure just how long it had been since she had been taken but if she needed to hazard a guess, she thought two days. Long enough for someone to notice she was gone. She just needed to hang on.

Until then, she needed to play by the rules and make nice. Just until she was found and rescued. She could do that.

* * *

Jon had barely entered the room before Miss Hue had joined him. He was slightly startled by her sudden presence before everything sank back into place. _She was here._

“Everything okay?” Jon asked, she seemed nervous.

“I didn’t know what to call you.” She said in a hushed tone, sparing a glance towards the second bedrooms door. Jon looked at her puzzled and she shook her head in disbelief. “I didn’t know whether to call you Jon or Master or-?”

“Master?” Jon exclaimed, chuckling. That was unusual. “This isn’t some kind of dungeon, Miss Hue.” He gave her a playful smile. Miss Hue was one of the few people who got to see that side of him, he’d known her for most of his life.

“Ah, you know what I mean. I don’t know, I’ve not done this before.” He shrugged.

“Neither have I.” Miss Hue looked at him expectantly. He sighed. “Just tell her to call me Jon. Anything else would just be…weird.” Miss Hue nodded. “How was…how is she? Is she okay?” Miss Hue who had been in this world long enough to know not to ask too many questions felt her heart flutter. Every now and then, she wondered if Jon would get sucked in to this world, forget who he was and who is mother had wanted him to be and just when she thought he was teetering over the edge, he always did something that reminded her of just who he was. She smiled softly.

“She hasn’t said much. She doesn’t have anything with her so I thought I’d run down to one of the clothing stores, pick her out a few things; just for now.” Jon nodded.

“Of course. Anything she needs, just charge it. Obviously.” Miss Hue didn’t have her own money after all. Staff who were captives – previous or otherwise – weren’t paid money otherwise that gave them the opportunity to be able to buy their way out.

“I’ll go now. Will you be eating together or shall I bring it to you?”

“The usual, I’ll eat in my office.” Jon avoided eye contact and started sifting through some paperwork he’d had on the coffee table. Miss Hue arched her eyebrow towards him.

“You can’t avoid her forever, Jon. You’ve brought her here; you can’t pretend otherwise.” Jon let out a low grumble, why did people keep reminding him of that?

“Fine. When she’s ready. Tell her to come to my office. I’m not eating with her.” He was hard and short and without another word stalked off to his office.

* * *

Sansa wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep but she still felt exhausted. There was a light knock on the door and a pause. Sansa was slow on the uptake and thought it was just out of politeness and whoever it was would just enter anyway. _Oh god, what if its him?_ Whoever him is exactly. She cleared her throat.

“Erm, come in?” She phrased it like a question and felt a sense of relief when she realised it was Miss Hue. She felt a form of conflict when it came to the housekeeper. On one hand, she was keeping her here too; allowing her captivity to go on but on the other, Sansa had caught enough hints to realise Miss Hue probably couldn’t do anything about it anyway. She may as well have an ally whilst she was here. Sansa gave her a small smile as Miss Hue placed a stack of clothes at the edge of her bed.

“It’s not much. Just something for bedtime and a couple of dresses to get you started. I guessed your size so I hope it all fits.”

“Thank you. That’s erm…really kind of you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t me, dear. It was…Jon.” Sansa felt her eyes widen. So, mystery man had a name after all?

“Jon?”

“Yes, Jon.” Miss Hue flushed a little and glanced around the room, she appeared to be nervous. Sansa waited for her to speak. “I’m making a beef casserole for dinner; would you like to eat in here or at the table?”

“Table.” Sansa blurted and flushed herself. Miss Hue smiled and nodded.

“Of course. It should be ready in about an hour or so.” She headed to the door before turning back around to face her. “Jon would like to see you at some point this evening. Perhaps after dinner? His office is on the right, past the kitchen.”

Sansa felt a wave of nausea rush over her.

* * *

Sansa took a deep breath before she exited the bedroom. She had toyed with the idea of changing her outfit and taking a shower. One part of her wanted to look bedraggled, ugly – anything to keep this man from wanting her, whatever it was he wanted and the other, a sick part of her wanted to be presentable, to please him, to do something to keep him sweet and on her good side. She wanted to vomit.

She hesitated outside what she assumed was his office after following Miss Hue’s directions, her stomach was somersaulting; she was so nervous. She had no idea what to expect. She had pondered the idea of just ignoring him, pretending that she hadn’t gotten Miss Hue’s request and just staying in the bedroom all night but she didn’t want to do anything that might risk angering him. Before she could overthink it any further, she tapped lightly on the door.

There was a low grunt followed by an ‘Enter’, Sansa jolted a little but nevertheless held steady and grabbed the door handle, slowly opening it up. This room looked more made up; like someone actually lived there. She had barely got one foot through the door before she noticed the bookcase and it was filled with books. Her eyes almost went doe-eyed at the sight of them.

Jon cleared his throat; he was surprised that she was here. Would she recognise him? Remember him? _It was two days ago, Jon, of course she’ll recognise you._ Sansa turned to look at him and despite her theories, she still felt the wind get knocked out of as she realised it was the man that she had spilt coffee on. Her throat almost felt like it was closing in on her, was he going to punish her for it? She coughed, gave a slight look over her shoulder out the door and gestured to where the kitchen was.

“Miss Hue said you wanted to see me?” She questioned, quietly. It was almost as if she was trying very hard to avoid looking at him but every now and then, he could see her watching him beneath her lashes. He nodded solemnly thought didn’t remember making the request to Miss Hue. _Hmm, Miss Hue…_ Jon gestured to his desk and grabbed a chair from the corner, he placed it opposite his desk so that she could sit down.

Neither of them said anything to begin with and Jon couldn’t stop watching her. He took in the way her eyes darted around the room, she was looking for something, taking it all in; he presumed. She was breathing rather heavily that he wasn’t sure if he should offer to get her some water, before he had the chance; Miss Hue entered carry a tray with a teapot on.

“Thought you might like a beverage to go along with your conversation.” Jon eyed his housekeeper and scowled; _she knows exactly what she’s doing._ Miss Hue ignored him and instead placed the teapot on the desk along with two cups and saucers. Grinning, she added; “Couldn’t resist adding some lemon tarts to the plate. Enjoy!” She hummed as she left, Sansa’s eyes felt like they couldn’t possibly get any wider. _Its official, I’m stuck in the Twilight Zone and I don’t even know what that is._

She could do with a cup of tea though. Sansa leant forward and picked up the teapot and started pouring tea into the cup that was placed nearest to her. Jon, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her since she had entered the room; watched as she did so and Sansa stammered. _Oh fuck, two minutes here and you’ve got it wrong already._ She quickly stopped pouring and moved over to his teacup instead. _I’m here to serve, right?_ Jon groaned lightly and looked to side, he looked irritated and caught Sansa by surprise so that she wasn’t watching what she was doing and promptly overfilled the cup, spilling hot water all over the desk and Jon. He leapt up in surprise as the hot liquid scorched him.

“Oh fuck!” Sansa exclaimed, jumping up out of her seat and placing the teapot as quickly but gently down as possible. _Oh god, please don’t kill me for saying fuck. Or for spilling yet another hot drink on you._ “I’m-I’m so sorry. I wasn’t-I wasn’t watching…” Jon grinned slightly and dabbed at his trousers.

“It’s fine. It appears you have quite the habit of doing that.” He had this short way of speaking his words, as though it was merely commentary and not open for response. His words though had pushed Sansa out of her trance and for the first time since entering the room, she looked at him; really looked at him and her eyes turned him to stone.

“So it is you.” She simply stated and it sent a chill down Jon’s back. Sansa knew it was of course him but to have it confirmed made her feel repulsed. Jon looked down to the wet patch of his trousers and grabbed a napkin from Miss Hue’s tray. He didn’t say anything as he sat back down and began dabbing. Sansa stared at him before making a turn to go, not that she had been dismissed but at this point she didn’t care. She stopped at the door though and turned back around. “Is this punishment?” She said it so softly, he almost missed it.

“What?”

“Is this my punishment? I spilled coffee on you in the high street. I-I ruined your shirt, I rudely bumped into you, I disrespected you?” She thought the whole thing was ridiculous but these guys were kidnapping girls of the fucking street – who was she to say what was worth it in their eyes.

“No. Of course not. I didn’t- “Jon stopped, he needed to be careful with how much information he gave away. Just in case. “Seeing you today was just as much a surprise to me as it was for you, I assure you.” Sansa arched her eyebrow.

A surprise? Had he been taken off the street, slept on a dark, damp concrete floor and been poked and prodded and picked by a man who now apparently owned her?

“Somehow I doubt that.” She said icily and Jon froze. He wasn’t used to people speaking to him like that. Around here, he was the top man – just one notch below Robert Baratheon and people respected him. He was a fucking king to these people and here she was, chastising him.

“Look-. “

“Why am I here?” Sansa interrupted and shrugged petulantly. “What do you want with me? From me?”

Jon was aware he was gaping like a fish but he was so caught off guard by her, he didn’t know how to respond. It took him a minute.

“I don’t-I don’t want anything from you.” She scoffed, Christ she was beautiful; even when she was giving him lip. “Look, I know you have no reason to believe me but it’s true. I’ve never even picked a-. “He stopped; he didn’t need to insult her further by explaining what her role was in this whole pantomime. “I saw you in the line-up and I recognised you. Obviously.” He paused and Sansa waited, watching him. “There are some bad guys here okay? I know, I’m bad too and I won’t pretend I’m anything decent but I’ll never hurt you. Not every man who chose today can promise the same thing.” Sansa took a sharp intake of breath as Gilly flicked through her mind.

“So, you don’t want to hurt me?” She questioned, almost in disbelief. Jon grunted loudly.

“No!” He roared and made Sansa almost jump out of her skin. He took a deep breath and looked at her. “Look, you’re here because I wanted to protect you from Joffrey and Bolton alright? I won’t hurt you. I wont touch you without your say so. You can either believe me or don’t but that’s the truth.”

Sansa nodded softly; she wasn’t sure if she did believe him or not but he did seem rather passionate about it and he hadn’t even got angry with her when she spilt the tea all over him. She resolved to give him the benefit of the doubt. She nodded again, she had so many questions for him and for Miss Hue but her brain ached with exhaustion that she couldn’t bare to ask them. Not yet. She wasn’t sure if she needed to be dismissed or not but she turned to go anyway.

“Wait.” Jon commanded, softly and she turned to look at him. He paused. “I don’t…I don’t know your name.” He tried smiling gently towards her but was pretty sure it looked like some sort of grimace.

“Sansa.” And with that she turned to go. Jon put his head into his hands and took another deep breath. He hoped he had at least some idea of what the hell he had gotten himself into.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Sansa glanced back at the ceiling. She was bored. She had never, in her wildest dreams, thought it would be possible to be kidnapped and have this issue – not be fearing for her life, although there was always an undercurrent of that – but that she was bored because there was nothing to do. She hadn’t left her room in days; she woke up, Miss Hue brought her food, she showered and then she slept. That was her daily routine. She was confused, why was she here if that’s all that was needed of her? Jon didn’t want her to do anything apparently.

She had questioned Miss Hue the day before when she had brought her some dinner, what her actual purpose of her being here was. Miss Hue had seemed like she had considered the same thing as she took her time to answer. She had told her most _wives_ responsibility was taking care of the home and looking after their husband but since Jon had opted to keep Miss Hue around and actively avoided Sansa, neither role was needed. Miss Hue had told her to be thankful – _thankful?_ – apparently, most of the captives weren’t awarded the luxury. She had said it a nice, caring way sure but still; it rubbed Sansa up the wrong way. She wasn’t going to be _thankful_ to Jon for anything.

However, she was sick and tired of staring at the same four walls so she finally decided to leave the confines of her bedroom. She made her way to the kitchen where she was sure Miss Hue would be whilst still keeping an eye out for Jon in the living space. He seemed like the type to hide away in his office when he wasn’t out doing his mafia stuff, she guessed but still she was on high alert. Sure enough, Miss Hue was just bending down to get something out of the oven when Sansa stepped into the kitchen. She clutched her fingers together; it was nerve-wracking being out of her room.

“Oh. You startled me, dear.” Miss Hue placed the baking tray on top of the oven and clutched her chest slightly. Sansa grimaced.

“Sorry, I just-.” She turned in the direction of her bedroom, maybe this was a bad idea. _Maybe I should just stay in my bedroom, safe and tucked away._ No way, she couldn’t hack it anymore. “I’m going crazy out of my mind with boredom. I need to do something!” She exclaimed. She wasn’t very good at sitting idly, back home If she wasn’t working; she was reading or visiting her family or designing outfits to wear. She didn’t just sit around, she always kept herself busy.

“Well, I’ve just finished up with a new batch of lemon tarts but I’m just about to prepare a lasagne for dinner and perhaps a cake for dessert though I haven’t decided what yet if you would like to join me?” Miss Hue smiled and for the first time in days, Sansa genuinely smiled back.

“Really? You don’t mind?” She grinned, she really hoped Miss Hue didn’t backtrack now. Admittedly, she wasn’t much of a cook and tended to burn most things but anything would do to keep her hands busy right now.

“Of course, why don’t you start looking through those cookbooks over there and pick out what we’ll have for dessert whilst I’ll get started on the main?” Sansa nodded and selected a book from the small collection that was on top of the counter. She started sifting through it, her stomach growling at the images even though she’d not long had lunch. They all looked so delicious.

“What about this one?” She headed over to Miss Hue who was currently chopping onions and peppers with a skill that Sansa had never seen before; she was so efficient.

“Oooh, a nice Genoise cake. Excellent choice, dear. I just picked up some fresh strawberries this morning as well.” Once the cake was picked out and Sansa double checked they had all the correct ingredients – although, she wasn’t entirely sure what or where Miss Hue would go if they didn’t, she had mentioned having fresh strawberries, did that mean there was a supermarket as well in this weird fortress of some kind or did Miss Hue get to go out into the real world?

Sansa jumped in and started cooking the beef mince under Miss Hue’s instructions, she also began boiling some water to pre-cook some of the lasagne sheets. Miss Hue had told her that they could prepare the meal and cook it later. Once that was done, Sansa barely hesitated before grabbing all the ingredients for the cake. This was the most fun she had had in days and typically she didn’t even like cooking that much.

“Do you-.” Miss Hue paused and Sansa glanced at her, there was an uncomfortable look on her face but she was purposely avoided Sansa’s gaze. “Did you cook much at home?” _Ah._ Sansa shook her head.

“No.” She let out a low laugh, trying to ignore the stab in her chest that came whenever she thought of home. “Cooking and me don’t really go well together. Let’s just say I prefer my food…crispier than most.” Miss Hue chuckled slightly, understanding her point. Sansa smiled and continued to mix the flour and butter together. “My sister Arya is the baker in the family. She tries to hide it, she’s a total tomboy and thinks if she’s seen cooking then she’s conforming to some sort of housewife ideology.” Sansa rolled her eyes playfully. “But she’s actually really good so I don’t know why she bothers.”

“You must miss her.” Miss Hue said quietly and Sansa squeezed her eyes closed, trying to stop the tears from coming.

“We weren’t close.” She murmured. “We were getting there though. Sisters fight and we bickered like crazy but I don’t know, it was like something had changed recently. We’d grown up or something.” She barked a laugh – now she sounded like her mother and oh Christ, she didn’t want to start thinking about her mother. Sansa shrugged her shoulders and was just about to ask Miss Hue about her family when she heard a sharp cough behind her. Sansa and Miss Hue both turned and stopped what they were doing.

“Sorry to interrupt. Miss Hue, I just wanted to let you know that Theon and Sam will be joining us for dinner tonight.” Miss Hue nodded.

“Oh lovely, I feel like I haven’t seen the boys in so long! And we’re making a wee feast for them too.” She grinned at Sansa who smiled slightly but couldn’t help but glance back at Jon; her short smile immediately dropped. Jon nodded.

“Great, that’s erm…great.” He turned to go and cringed before adding; “Sansa, you will join us for dinner.” It was a request and he hadn’t originally intended on requesting her presence at dinner – Theon and Sam were two people he could get away with it with – but he had avoided her long enough and he was well aware that she was taking her meals in her room and quite frankly…he wanted to have dinner with her. Jon cleared his throat again and left them to it.

* * *

It was a short while later that Miss Hue broke the silence. After Jon’s interruption, Sansa and Miss Hue had fallen into a quiet routine of baking and they were now waiting for the cake to bake. Sansa was chopping strawberries whilst Miss Hue was making them both a cup of tea, she also popped a lemon tart on a plate for Sansa and gave her slight wink and Sansa grinned. She really had come to love those tarts and Miss Hue knew it too.

“I’ll just take this to Jon if you could get the cake out of the oven, I suspect its ready now. Then we’ll have a nice cup of tea whilst we wait for it to chill.” Sansa nodded as Miss Hue headed into Jon’s office with his own plate of lemon tarts.

When Miss Hue came back, she led Sansa to the sitting room and sat herself down and quietly sipped her cup of tea. It was such a simple thing; Sansa had done it probably every day of her life but it still felt so surreal, so normal. Nothing about this was normal at all and yet it was like a constant battle to remind herself of that.

“You’re awfully quiet.” Miss Hue said as she eyed Sansa, Sansa flushed. She supposed she had been chatting away for the last couple of hours. On reflection, she felt slightly guilty about it.

“When I woke up – here, I suppose.” Sansa began, her stomach was fluttering. “I wasn’t alone, there was another girl in the room – Gilly – we kind of stuck together, I guess. I just, I’m just worried about her. I hope she’s okay.” Sansa said softly and Miss Hue smiled.

“I understand. There will come a time when you’ll be able to see her, I’m sure. I’m afraid I can’t tell you when.” She wasn’t privy to that information but she had heard a few things from fellow housekeepers about some of things that happened here. Sansa nodded and then opened her mouth to say something else, she paused as though she second guessed herself. She took a sip of her tea and a bite of her tart, munching slowly; thinking it over.

“Do you-, do you think if I ask…Jon, he might be able to tell me?” Miss Hue took a sharp in take of breath.

“I couldn’t say, dear. I am sure that if he knew you were worried about your friend and if he knew if she was okay, he would tell you but it’s whether or not he is privy to that information himself. He might not want to go poking in other people’s business.” Men had been killed for less. Sansa nodded, it wasn’t the answer she had hoped for although Miss Hue had said if Jon knew the answer, he would most likely tell her. Well, what if he did know the answer?

They finished off with decorating the cake and before Sansa could think twice about it, she headed over to Jon’s office and knocked. She needed to know if Gilly was okay.

* * *

Sansa, it seemed had a habit of surprising Jon wherever he turned. He was not expecting her to make the move to come and see him again. Although, he had half been expecting her to tell him where to go – she did seem to like the word fuck so much after all – when he told her she had to have dinner with him this evening, maybe she just hadn’t wanted to do it in front of Miss Hue?

“Sansa.” Jon said, softly. She stood by the door as if waiting to be allowed in. Jon gestured to the chair; she moved in closer to the room, standing opposite him at his desk but chose not to sit down.

“Erm...I was wondering if you could…” She trailed off, she had avoided eye contact since she had entered the room and was playing with the sleeve on her dress. “If you could tell me about my friend, Gilly.” At the mention of Gilly’s name, she looked at him; suddenly braver. Jon was puzzled; was he supposed to know who that was?

“I’m sorry, I don’t know that is.” Sansa gritted her teeth.

“She was one of the girls I came here with. Another girl you manhandled of the street.” She grunted; Jon smirked; she definitely had some fire in her.

“I manhandled off the streets?” He questioned, getting out of his seat and walking around to the front of the desk and perching on the edge of it. There was barely any space between them now and Sansa blanched, she needed to check the way she spoke to this guy. Who knew what he was capable of? She rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean. I just want to know if she is okay?”

“Well, what we want and what we get are two different things.” Jon said, bluntly. Sansa’s mouth fell open. She didn’t understand why Miss Hue thought so much of this arsehole. She needed to try a different tact; her eyes began to well up with tears. Really, it wasn’t that hard to conjure them, all things considered.

“P-please.” She whimpered. “I just need to know…” Jon inwardly grinned, she thought tears would work on him? Hadn’t she already worked it out, Jon Snow was made of stone. He’d seen the change in her face, she had been too slow to hide it and she hadn’t grown up in this world to learn to be quicker.

“What do you think is, Sansa? You think you can draw me in with a few tears and I’ll just do your bidding? I won’t go poking around in somebody else’s business just like if someone else did that to me, quite simply; I’d shoot them just for being so fucking interfering.” Sansa flinched at his harsh words. “And quite frankly, I couldn’t give a shit about your friend. Now, you are going to go back to your room, you are going to put on a nice dress-.” He stopped and gave her the once over. “A nicer dress, do your make up and hair; make yourself look pretty and then you are going to sit at my dinner table and be the charming, lovely self I’m sure is inside of you somewhere. Are we understood?” Jon growled; Sansa’s tears weren’t so fake anymore. There was a long silence before Sansa’s gaze turned steely and she clenched her fists.

“And if I don’t?” Jon barked out a laugh.

“You think this is a game? What do you think happens to those who don’t do what I ask of them?” He gave a purposely extensive pause and made his way back around his desk. “What do you think would happen to say…Arya?” Sansa gasped. “Your sister, correct?” Jon laughed again. “This isn’t just about you, Sansa. We have eyes on all of your family. You fuck up, you embarrass me and I’ll be forced to do something you won’t want me to do.” He was panting with rage now but the moment he took in Sansa’s state; she was drenched in tears, he felt himself soften before quietly adding. “This is how they get you, Sansa. By getting to those you love.” Sansa looked at him, he knew where her family were? _He knows about Arya…and mum and dad and my brothers?_ She let out a small cry.

“You can leave now.”

Sansa didn’t hesitate as she fled for the door and ran to her bedroom, her safe space.

* * *

Jon headed into the dining room to ensure that everything was in its place, not that he needed too, he trusted Miss Hue and knew she had it all in hand but he just needed something to do. He had been feeling antsy since his harsh words with Sansa earlier in the day- _she needed to be told, its better this way_ – he reminded himself for the thousandth time that day. Miss Hue was of course already present at the table, straightening it up. Jon nodded a hello but knew he was in for it the moment he saw her eyebrow arch up.

“I saw Sansa fleeing your office in tears earlier.” Jon sighed.

“She wasn’t fleeing.” Miss Hue stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him, arms folded like an angry headmistress. “She needed to be reminded of her place. She can’t go around asking me questions and expecting things from me.”

“I do believe a simple no would have sufficed. I could hear you from the kitchen.” Jon groaned.

“And if she had questioned me something like that in front of someone? You and I both know what I would be forced to do for appearances sakes. Its better this way. She’ll keep her mouth shut.” He grumbled and Miss Hue sighed, heavily.

“She’s just worried about her friend. You of all people should understand.” Jon was silent for a moment; he knew he was too harsh with her but he needed to be harsh. Sansa needed to know that in this world, she was beneath him and she couldn’t go around demanding things from him. Especially in public.

Before Jon could say anything, he heard a knock at the door which meant Theon and Sam had arrived. He left Miss Hue to it and instead went to greet his friends. Sam and Theon nodded a hello towards Jon and both took it in turns to give Miss Hue a quick hug, they had all known her since they were children. The two men took a seat at the dining table whilst Jon grabbed them all a drink.

“So, will it just be the three of us for dinner or…?” Theon trailed off as he took in the sight of Sansa. She was wearing a short green dress with a high neck, (the last thing she had wanted was three strange men gawping at her.) Jon felt his chest clench, Sansa had indeed taken everything on board that he had said; she had done her makeup and her hair had some sort of intricate plaits weaving through it. She looked stunning. Sansa took in a deep breath before she flashed them a beautiful smile.

Jon wanted her to be charming then so be it. Whatever it took to bide her time before she could get out of this hell hole. Her only way of defiance was to do everything a little less than intended. Jon told her to wear a nicer dress and to do her hair and make up which she did but just a lesser amount. Arya would have refused completely; but Sansa wasn’t Arya, she wasn’t as strong as her sister.

“Sansa.” Jon cleared his throat and stood up and Theon eyed him with a look that said, _is that what we’re doing now?_ Jon ignored him and gestured for Sansa to take a seat. Sansa did, she was sat opposite both Theon and Sam whilst Jon was at the head of the table. She recognised both of them from The Choosing which filled her with unease.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sansa. I’m Sam, I’ve known Jon since I was a child. I hope he’s looking after you well.” Sam gave her a polite but awkward smile and Sansa felt her insides flutter. She looked over at Jon with a dazzling smile.

“Oh, he is. He says the nicest things to me.” She simpered and Theon snorted. Jon shot him a glare and kicked him under the table. He gave Sansa a glare as well to which she ignored and continued smiling at him instead.

Miss Hue broke the tension as she entered the room with a large dish of lasagne and began serving everyone at the table; starting with Jon.

“Sansa, could I get you a drink?” Miss Hue asked as she realised Sansa didn’t have one and the boys were drinking whiskey. Jon inwardly cringed, he’d been distracted first by how beautiful she had looked and then again when she tried to outsmart him in front of his friends. Sansa stalled; she realised that she did want a drink but she didn’t actually know what she was allowed to have? So far all she had drank was tea and water, she didn’t even know if she was allowed to drink alcohol; these guys were so backwards around here, she wasn’t surprised if it was frowned upon. She stuttered.

“Perhaps a glass of wine?” Jon murmured as he glanced over at Sansa. She looked at him, he had phrased it as a question as if testing the waters as to whether that was what she wanted. It was like he had known that she was struggling with what her choices were. That confirmed the question of alcohol although and for that, Sansa was relieved. She nodded and smiled at Miss Hue.

“Wine would be great, please. Erm…white if possible…not really a fan of the red.” She muttered to herself and Miss Hue nodded and left to grab her drink.

“Did you see that Bolton’s face this morning? Apparently, the girl he chose _twatted_ him one for coming too close.” Theon snarked and hastily stopped himself before looking at Jon and then Sansa. _Great, now he’s giving her ideas,_ Jon thought. “But erm…Bolton you know made sure she wouldn’t do it again.” Theon cringed – _poor choice of words, Theon_ – he had been trying to clear it up, preventing Sansa from thinking it was okay to those things but ultimately, he’d probably made it sound a hell of a lot worse. _Whoops._

“Sam?” Jon said and Sansa found her chest tighten, had that girl been beaten or…even killed? Sam shook his head.

“I checked on her this morning, she’s okay-. “He glanced towards Sansa and found her watching him, almost riveted, desperate to know what had become of this mystery girl. Sam looked back at Jon. “A few bruises but nothing too severe; I’m hoping Bolton will want her moved.” Jon didn’t need Sam to finish, he knew what he meant. If Bolton chose to discard the girl then she could go into other work but if he had her back…then she was certain to beaten and tortured on a daily basis.

“I want you to keep tabs on her.” Sam nodded, Jon couldn’t physically get involved as it would be classed as involving himself into others personal business – an act that could be punished by death from either Bolton or even Robert Baratheon if he chose too – but he could have Sam be on the lookout and put a few things in place to aim to sway Bolton if need be.

There was a long awkward pause as Jon realised that perhaps they had shared too much with Sansa. It continued to be quiet as they all dug into dinner whilst Sansa, Jon noted, merely picked at her food and moved it around with her fork. She caught Jon watching her, she hastily looked away and instead took a large gulp of her wine. Theon coughed.

“Well, this is awkward.”

“Theon.” Jon grunted. Theon shrugged.

“What? It is, let’s just call a spade a spade, okay Jon?” Theon took a sip of his whiskey and looked at Sansa. “You must hate us. Maybe planning to slit our throats in our sleep?”

“Theon.” Jon groaned and covered his face with his hands. Sansa’s eyes just flitted continuously between Theon and Jon, utterly bewildered.

“Well, Jon’s throat at least.” Theon looked towards Jon. “Me and Sam don’t live here. Bit more difficult.” He let out a chuckle as Jon continued to glare at him. _He’s definitely gonna slit my throat when he gets the chance._ Theon turned to Sansa and put an arm around Sam. “Hey Sansa, if it makes you feel better – Sam over here got taken away from his family too.”

“Thanks for telling her my life story.” Sam said quietly. Theon shrugged and grinned.

“Sansa, I am so sorry for Theon. He’s a fucking idiot.” Sansa was quiet for a moment before she responded.

“Realistically, what are the logistics of slitting one’s throat?” Jon stopped and Theon dropped his fork on his plate, a loud clatter rang through the dining room. Sansa grabbed her glass of wine. “I mean, do you lock your door before you go to bed for starters?” She arched her eyebrow and took a sip. She had no idea what had just come over her; maybe she was embracing her inner Arya after all.

“No but I think he might start now.” Theon laughed. “I like this girl; good choice.” Sansa grimaced at his choice of words. Jon rolled his eyes.

Dinner conversation was pretty much done after that, the boys complimented both Miss Hue and Sansa on dessert; Theon help himself to two chunky slices of cake. Jon excused himself from the dinner table and headed to his office, Theon and Sam on his tail whilst Sansa decided to help Miss Hue clear the table. _Really got this whole housewife role down…_

* * *

“She seems nice.” Jon eyed Theon and he grinned in response. “Oh, come on, she was gonna sit there all quiet and awkward if I didn’t at least try to lighten the mood a bit.”

“And she certainly did that.” Sam chuckled and Jon couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips. She was definitely a feisty one and he liked that about her but he was also concerned about it.

“Yeah. Anyway, Theon did you get the information I asked you to?” Theon nodded.

“Not good news unfortunately. She’s with Joffrey.” Jon recoiled, _damnit._ Joffrey was a piece of work.

“Alright, Sam what are the chances of you coming into contact with her?”

“Quite high actually, Joffrey has commissioned me and Gendry to accompany him to Malta next week. He wants us present before and after in any meetings to take place so I’ll be in the house, I’ll keep an eye out for her as much as I can.” Jon nodded, that was some better news at least. Contrary to what he had told Sansa, he couldn’t help but look into what had become of her friend. Something had struck a chord within him and whilst he couldn’t necessarily share this information with Sansa; he could at least let her know she was safe for now. Sam would take care of her as much as possible.

The men chatted for a while longer which mostly involved Theon telling them all about some hot blonde he had picked up the night before and bitching about Bolton and Joffrey. Just as they were saying their goodbyes and Theon and Sam were heading out of the door, Jon stopped them.

“Theon, you’ve got access to her history and family information, right?” Jon wasn’t quite sure why he was asking; he knew he did. It was par to the course that Olenna Tyrell found out as much about her captives as possible, background checks and family history included. Theon nodded. He didn’t need to ask Jon to clarify who he was asking about.

“I did but I thought you didn’t want to know anything about her?”

Jon hadn’t wanted to know anything about Sansa at all, his original plan had been to stay away for her as much as possible and only speak with her when deemed necessary such as public events. But well, it had been mere days and his original plan wasn’t working so well.

“I know. But now I do.” Jon said in a clipped tone and Theon had known Jon long enough to know not to question him further.

“I’ll have it delivered to you in the morning? Or do you need it now?” Jon waved him away.

“Morning’s fine.” They said their goodbyes and Jon grabbed a quick shower before heading to bed. It had been pure luck heading to the kitchen at the precise moment that Sansa had mentioned her sister, Arya to Miss Hue. He hadn’t meant to use it against her but he had needed something to frighten her and the mentions of family always worked so well; he knew that.

He sighed to himself, he wasn’t quite sure what had changed but now he wanted to know as much about Sansa as possible. He dried his hair quickly before heading into bed but just before he got himself tucked in; he decided for the first time since moving in to lock his bedroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it! I've got a rough idea of the next few chapters in my head so should hopefully be written and up soon!


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